Abai Kunanbaiuly and Russian Culture

The essay traces the changing status of Abai (1845-1904), the most celebrated of modern Kazakh poets, in relation to Russian language and literature. Abai translated several classic Russian poets, including Pushkin, Lermontov, and Krylov, into Kazakh. I argue here that, during the Soviet period, Abai’s role as a translator was primarily seen through the colonial lens of bringing Russian literary “enlightenment” and Soviet “progress” of the Soviet Union to what was perceived as the largely undeveloped nation of Kazakhstan. Accordingly, Abai’s considerable creativity as a translator was neglected during the Soviet period. As the power balance between Russia and Kazakhstan shifted after the Independence of Kazakhstan in 1991, Abai increasingly re-emerged as a symbol of ethnic Kazakh culture and traditional Kazakh lifestyle prior to Soviet collectivization and industrialization. My chapter describes how Abai became a figure of ethnic Kazakh pride and nationalism, in implicit opposition to Russian culture and the increasing spread of Westernization in Kazakhstan. Moreover, Abai became Kazakhstan’s official cultural “brand”, despite his problematic status as an ethnic Kazakh icon in a multicultural and largely bilingual country.